Tetris Party Live

I was going back & forth over which version of Tetris Party to buy for my 3DS:

Tetris Party Deluxe, which is a cartridge that has more game modes, can be playable on my 3DS *or* my DS Lite... but costs $24.99(!) at Best Buy...

Tetris Party Live, which only has the basic Tetris game mode and online multiplayer (which I will probably never use), is downloadable & only playable on my 3DS... but costs $4.99.



Kinda easy to decide when you put it that way.


I figured if I somehow made a horrible mistake and wanted the version other than the one I first bought, I'd be out a bit over $5 bucks, but if I'd bought the cartridge first & realized I only wanted the basic game... that's $28 bucks (with tax) I'd have wasted.

So I've been playing Tetris Party Live for the last couple days. There are actually 2 modes in the basic single player: endless, and "clear 150 lines".

The problem is that I seem to TOTALLY SUCK at Tetris. I've been trying the 150 lines, but by the time I get to 70-80 lines, it simply gets too hard for me to get past. So every game I play ends around the 10 minute mark.

Compare that to Lumines/Lumines II, and while they get very difficult, the difficulty ebbs & flows, so there's a bit of a respite to the relentlessness of the pacing. And I can usually play a 30 minute session of Lumines. But Tetris Party Live, it just speeds up & up until you die (which in my case is very quick)

It's very annoying. Maybe I'll get better, but it just seems a bit, I dunno, harsh with the difficulty ramping up. I don't seem to make any improvement no matter how many games I play. They *ALL* end in about 10 minutes.

And the game generally is very plain. There is a little bit of customization with background & music, but overall it's not a great looking game. Plus, why does it not make use of both screens to play? The top screen is totally wasted, and you can't even choose to display the gameplay on the top rather than on the bottom. The top screen displays the computer when you're playing against it, but it would've been nice if it could've been used better for single player.

Consider yourself lucky, you Lumines PSP players who may've eyed Tetris with envy.... (though Tetris is available on the PS Store so if you were actually envious, you could just buy & download that...) even though Lumines could be considered a "Tetris rip-off", it's still has fairly well-balanced gameplay & great production values to give good gaming sessions, rather than the unrelenting chews-you-up+spits-you-out difficulty of Tetris Party Live.




later
don